Michele Bachmann

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s expected to make a Republican bid for the White House in 2016, was in the St. Louis area Monday evening to raise money for the Republican National Committee.

The private event, closed to the press, was hosted by Jeff Fox in Clayton, sources say. He’s the son of wealthy businessman Sam Fox, who also lives in Clayton and long has been one of the top Republican donors nationally and in Missouri.

Monday night’s fundraiser is among several that Christie is attending in the bi-state area over the next two days.

Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann — a favorite of the national tea party movement — was in the St. Louis area Saturday to exhort fellow social conservatives to continue their fight against President Barack Obama, whom she characterized as weak overseas and a dictator at home.

Speaking at a packed Eagle Forum luncheon in Ladue, Bachmann predicted that American voters will respond this fall by putting Republicans in control of the U.S. Senate so that the president’s policies — especially the Affordable Care Act — can be blocked and repealed.